The Loot of the Lazy A

This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design. A rainy San Francisco night throws a lonely young woman into the path of Cultus Collins, a tall, rough-hewn cowboy whose blunt strength is matched by unexpected kindness. When he rescues Mary Smith from a crude stranger, feeds her in a humble chop-house, and listens without judgment, the encounter opens into a world where hunger, grief, and sudden mercy meet head-on. Mary's story of fleeing an unwanted marriage and failing to find work leads to a violent restaurant shooting, a mistaken suitcase, and a dangerous deception: inside are women's clothes, money, tickets, and a letter about a woman named Janice Lee. Sensing fate, Cultus sends Mary west under that identity. In Oreana City, Arizona, the story widens into a hard-edged frontier feud between the Lazy A and Star X ranches, where old grudges, gambling, and family pride rule. The tragic cast includes Faith Ault Keene, cast off by her father after marrying gambler Jack Keene, and a circle of cowboys—Badger Hill, Shif'less Hill, Dude Wheeler, and Idaho Breen—whose loyalties and tempers keep the conflict alive. As runaway accidents, suspected kidnappings, hidden inheritances, and mistaken identities collide, Mary's survival depends on navigating a ranch world both dangerous and unexpectedly tender.